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In the video game industry, 2023 saw significant changes within larger publishers and developers. Microsoft, after having satisfied worldwide regulatory bodies, completed its US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, making them the third largest game publisher in the world. Embracer Group, which had been in an acquisition spree over the previous few years, had an estimated $2 billion deal fall through, causing many of the studios under Embracer to either lay off staff or close entirely. Similar layoffs were seen at Unity, Amazon, ByteDance, Epic Games, Bungie, and Ubisoft, leading to over 9,000 jobs lost in the industry in 2023 and part of a larger trend of layoffs at technology companies in 2023. [1] [2] [3]
Baldur's Gate 3 was the first game to sweep the five major awards: the Golden Joystick Awards, the Game Awards, the D.I.C.E. Awards, the Game Developer Choice Awards, and the BAFTA Games Awards. [4]
The number of highly praised video games released in 2023 was considered unusually high compared to most years, with 25 games having a 90 out of 100 or better aggregate score on Metacritic by October 2023; this made it the best year by number of acclaimed games, the largest since 2004. [9] This year was comparable to the slate of highly praised releases in 1992, 1997 and 2008. [10] The reasons for this include the fact that most of the top games were delayed or not even developed until after the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to greater quality in gaming overall, and that the ninth generation of consoles had become entrenched for developers. [9] [11]
The following table lists the top-rated games released in 2023 based on Metacritic, which generally considers expansions as separate entities.
Title | Developer(s) | Publisher(s) | Release | Platform(s) | Average score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | Nintendo EPD | Nintendo | May 12, 2023 | NS | 96 |
Baldur's Gate 3 | Larian Studios | August 3, 2023 | PC | 96 | |
Metroid Prime Remastered | Retro Studios | Nintendo | February 8, 2023 | NS | 94 |
Resident Evil 4 | Capcom | March 24, 2023 | PS5 | 93 | |
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Expansion Pass Wave 4 - Future Redeemed | Monolith Soft | Nintendo | April 25, 2023 | NS | 92 |
Street Fighter 6 | Capcom | June 2, 2023 | PC | 92 | |
Super Mario Bros. Wonder | Nintendo EPD | Nintendo | October 20, 2023 | NS | 92 |
Against the Storm | Eremite Games | Hooded Horse | December 8, 2023 | PC | 91 |
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty | CD Projekt Red | CD Projekt | September 26, 2023 | XSX | 90 |
Slay the Princess | Black Tabby Games | October 23, 2023 | PC | 90 | |
Dave the Diver | Mintrocket | June 28, 2023 | PC | 90 | |
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective | Capcom | June 30, 2023 | PC | 90 | |
Videoverse | Kinmoku | August 7, 2023 | PC | 90 | |
Quake II - Enhanced Edition | Nightdive Studios | Bethesda Softworks | August 10, 2023 | PC | 90 |
The Making of Karateka | Digital Eclipse | August 29, 2023 | PC | 90 | |
Jack Jeanne | Broccoli | Aksys Games | June 15, 2023 | NS | 90 |
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 | Insomniac Games | Sony Interactive Entertainment | October 20, 2023 | PS5 | 90 |
Tents & Trees | Frozax Games | March 14, 2023 | NS | 90 | |
Walkabout Mini Golf | Mighty Coconut, LLC | May 11, 2023 | PS5 | 90 | |
Resident Evil 4 | Capcom | March 24, 2023 | PC | 91 |
Month | Day(s) | Event |
---|---|---|
January | 6 | NetEase Games acquired SkyBox Labs. [13] |
17 | Unity Technologies laid off 284 employees. [14] | |
18 | Google's cloud streaming service Stadia closed, with all hardware and software purchases being refunded. [15] | |
February | 17 | Super Nintendo World opened to the public in Universal Studios Hollywood in California. [16] |
21-23 | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosted the 2023 D.I.C.E. Summit and the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards at the Resorts World Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, [17] Tim Schafer inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame. [18] | |
March | 20–24 | The Game Developers Conference returned to an all-physical format at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. [19] |
22 | Atari announced its intent to acquire Nightdive Studios for $10 million. [20] | |
27 | Nintendo closed the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. [21] | |
29 | Electronic Arts laid off about 800 staff. [22] | |
30 | The Entertainment Software Association announced that E3 2023 was cancelled due to lack of major publisher attendance. [23] | |
April | 3 | Legendary Entertainment secured TV and film rights of Capcom's Street Fighter franchise. [24] |
5 | Savvy Games Group announced its intent to acquire Scopely for $4.9 billion. [25] | |
19 | Epic Games acquired Brazil-based studio Aquiris. [26] | |
20 | Focus Entertainment acquired publisher studio Dovetail Games. [27] | |
Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Firewalk Studios under its PlayStation Studios label. [28] | ||
May | 3 | Unity Technologies announced plans to cut 600 jobs. [29] |
June | 5 | Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset, set to release in early 2024. [30] [31] |
8 | The 2023 Summer Game Fest was held through a combination of various in-person and streamed video events from over forty publishing partners at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles. [32] | |
14 | Embracer Group began undergoing a large-scale restructuring program due to the failure of a planned US$2 billion deal, which would affect some of its studios and ongoing projects. [33] | |
25 | The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performed a 10-year anniversary concert for The Game Awards, an end-of-the-year awards ceremony that has been running since 2014, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. [34] | |
July | 24 | Tencent announced its intent to acquire majority shares of Techland. [35] |
August | 10–12 | Quakecon returned as a live in-person event in Grapevine, Texas, following three years of digital formats due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [36] |
11–13 | The 2023 Pokémon World Championships took place at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center in Yokohama, Japan. [37] [38] | |
18 | Sega Sammy Group completed the acquisition of Rovio Entertainment for US$775M. [39] [40] | |
21 | Nintendo announced that Charles Martinet will be stepping back from recording voices for Mario and other characters. [41] | |
23–27 | The Gamescom convention took place at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany. [42] | |
31 | As part of its restructuring, Embracer Group shuttered Volition. [43] | |
September | 1–4 | Nintendo of America hosted Nintendo Live, an in-person event that was introduced in Japan back in 2017, in Seattle. [44] |
7 | The ESA announced that there would be no E3 in 2024. [45] [46] | |
13 | Unity Technologies announced a new retroactive licensing fee for the Unity game engine to start in 2024, generating backlash within the indie game community. The criticism led Unity to rework the fee structure to less-aggressive terms one week later. [47] | |
21–24 | The Tokyo Game Show convention took place at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. [48] | |
27 | Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, announced his intent to leave Sony by April 2024. [49] | |
28 | Epic Games laid off about 16% of its workforce, approximately 850 employees, including divestment of Bandcamp and SuperAwesome. [50] | |
October | 4 | Nintendo announced that the online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software will discontinue in early April 2024. [51] |
13 | The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft was completed following approval from the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority. [52] | |
Kevin Afghani was announced as the new voice of Mario and Luigi. [53] | ||
30 | Bungie laid off about 100 employees as part of cost-cutting measures due to lower player counts of Destiny 2 . [54] | |
31 | Atari announced its intent to acquire Digital Eclipse for $20 million. [55] | |
November | 3–4 | Blizzard Entertainment hosted BlizzCon, an in-person event, at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. [56] |
7 | Ubisoft laid off 124 employees worldwide, most from its Canadian studios. [57] | |
8 | Blizzard Entertainment announced its intent to transition the Overwatch League into a more traditional esports structure. [58] | |
15 | Series of layoffs were announced at Amazon Games, Digital Bros, Humble Games, and Kongregate. [59] | |
28 | Unity Technologies announced another set of layoffs consisting of 3.8% or 265 employees as part of a company "reset" following its licensing changes in September 2023. [60] | |
December | 7 | The Game Awards 2023, honoring the best video games of the year, took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. [61] |
11 | Free Radical Design was shut down as part of the fallout from Embracer Group's failed $2 billion deal. [62] | |
Google was found to have maintained an illegal monopoly in the Android market by a jury trial in Epic Games v. Google . [63] | ||
12 | The ESA confirmed that they would no longer hold E3 trade shows for the foreseeable future. [64] | |
15 | Activision Blizzard and the California Civil Rights Department agreed to a $54 million settlement in the lawsuit into sexual harassment at the company. [65] | |
19 | Insomniac Games suffered a data breach and had its ten-year plans released, as well as personnel information and several historical details around the company and Sony Interactive Entertainment, after failing to pay the hacking group to prevent its release. [66] [67] | |
29 | As part of Microsoft's acquisition, Bobby Kotick retired from Activision Blizzard after being its CEO for 32 years. [68] |
Month | Day | Console |
---|---|---|
January | 26 | Razer Edge |
February | 22 | PlayStation VR2 [90] [91] |
June | 13 | Asus ROG Ally |
October | 10 | Meta Quest 3 [92] [93] |
November | 15 | PlayStation Portal [94] |
16 | Steam Deck OLED [95] | |
17 | Atari 2600+ [96] |
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Title | Release / premiere date | Type | Distributor(s) | Franchise(s) | Original game publisher(s) | Ref. |
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The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Anime television series | Tokyo MX (Japan) | Trails | Nihon Falcom (Japan) Xseed Games (worldwide) | [1029] |
Nier: Automata Ver1.1a | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Drakengard | Square Enix | [1030] | ||
The Last of Us | January 15, 2023 | Television series | HBO (United States) | The Last of Us | Sony Interactive Entertainment | [1031] |
Tetris | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Biopic film | Apple TV+ | Tetris | Atari Games | [1032] |
Alice Gear Aegis Expansion | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Anime television series | Tokyo MX (Japan) Hidive (worldwide except Asia) | Alice Gear Aegis | Colopl | [1033] |
The Super Mario Bros. Movie | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | CG animated film | Universal Pictures | Mario | Nintendo | [1034] |
Pokémon Horizons: The Series | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. [lower-alpha 7] | Anime television series | TV Tokyo (Japan) Netflix (United States) | Pokémon | Nintendo The Pokémon Company | [1036] |
Raid: Call of the Arbiter | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Limited animated webseries | YouTube | Raid: Shadow Legends | Plarium Games | [1037] |
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Anime television series | Tokyo MX (Japan) | Atelier | Gust Co. Ltd. (Japan) Koei Tecmo (worldwide) | [1038] |
Resident Evil: Death Island | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | CG animated film | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | Resident Evil | Capcom | [1039] |
Twisted Metal | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Television series | Peacock | Twisted Metal | Sony Interactive Entertainment | [1040] |
The Sounds of Nightmares | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Podcast series | YouTube | Little Nightmares | Bandai Namco Entertainment | [1041] |
Gran Turismo | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Feature film | Sony Pictures | Gran Turismo | Sony Interactive Entertainment | [1042] |
Pokémon: Paldean Winds | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Limited animated webseries | YouTube | Pokémon | Nintendo The Pokémon Company | [1043] |
Castlevania: Nocturne | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Animated television series | Netflix | Castlevania | Konami | [1044] |
Shangri-La Frontier | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Anime television series | TBS (Japan) Crunchyroll (worldwide) | — | — | [1045] |
Arknights: Perish in Frost | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | TV Tokyo (Japan) Crunchyroll (worldwide) | Arknights | Hypergryph (China) Yostar (worldwide) | [1046] | |
Good Night World | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Anime series | Netflix | — | — | [1047] |
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Animated film | Warner Bros. Home Entertainment | Mortal Kombat | Midway Games | [1048] |
Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Anime series | Netflix | Far Cry | Ubisoft | [1049] |
Fill Your Pocket with Adventure | Television series | TV Tokyo (Japan) | Pokémon | Nintendo The Pokémon Company | [1050] | |
Detective Pikachu & the Mystery of the Missing Flan | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Animated short film | YouTube | Detective Pikachu Pokémon | [1051] | |
Five Nights at Freddy's | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Feature film | Universal Pictures | Five Nights at Freddy's | Scott Cawthon | [1052] |
Onimusha | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Anime series | Netflix | Onimusha | Capcom | [1053] |
Pokémon Concierge | The time allocated for running scripts has expired. | Stop-motion animated series | Pokémon | Nintendo The Pokémon Company | [1054] |
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The time allocated for running scripts has expired.The time allocated for running scripts has expired.
Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the Disgaea and Marl Kingdom series. Its mascot is the penguin-like Disgaea character Prinny.
Xseed Games is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. It later became a subsidiary of the Japanese game company Marvelous, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related materials.
CyberConnect2 Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game development studio mostly known for its work on the .hack series, along with a series of fighting games based on the Naruto franchise. They are also known for creating the Little Tail Bronx series. In 2016, they expanded their workforce into the international market by opening a studio in Montreal, Canada.
Nacon is a French video game company based in Lesquin. It designs and distributes gaming accessories, and publishes and distributes video games for various platforms. In 2020, Bigben Group was consolidated to form Nacon.
In the video game industry during 2019, both Sony and Microsoft announced their intent to reveal their next-generation consoles in 2020, while Nintendo introduced a smaller Nintendo Switch Lite, and Google announced its streaming game platform Stadia. The controversy over loot boxes as a potential gambling route continued into 2019, with some governments like Belgium and the Netherlands banning games with them under their gambling laws, while the United Kingdom acknowledging their current laws prevent enforcing these as if they were games of chance. The first video cards to support real-time ray tracing were put onto the consumer market, including the first set of games that would take advantage of the new technology. The Epic Games Store continued its growth in challenging the largest digital PC game distribution service Steam, leading to concern and debate about Epic Games' methods to seek games for its service. Dota Auto Chess, a community-created mod for Dota 2, introduced a new subgenre of strategy games called auto battlers, which saw several games in the genre released throughout the year. Blizzard Entertainment faced criticism due to their involvement in the Blitzchung controversy, which began after they had banned a Hearthstone player for making comments during a tournament regarding the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.
In the video game industry, 2020 saw the launch of the next generation of video game consoles, with both Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment having released the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles, respectively, in November 2020. The industry was heavily affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which had begun in March and was characterized by COVID-19 lockdowns and remote work. While this caused numerous delays in software and hardware releases and the cancellation of live conferences and events in favor of virtual shows, it also created a boon for the industry as people turned to gaming as a means to pass the time. The industry also reacted to various political/cultural events.
In the video game industry, 2021 saw the release of many new titles. The numerous delays in software and hardware releases due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted development schedules, leading to several games being delayed into 2022 or even postponed indefinitely. Additionally, computer and console hardware were impacted by the combined effects of a semiconductor shortage and a rising growth of bitcoin mining that strained the supply of critical components.
In the video game industry, 2022 saw the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, slowing hardware sales for most of the year as well as development delays for major titles. The industry continued its trend of acquisitions and mergers, highlighted by Microsoft announcing its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. The industry as a whole continued to deal with issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination, alongside crunch periods, leading to at least the quality assurance staff at three separate studios to vote to unionize.
In the video game industry, 2024 saw job losses extending from 2023, including large cuts from Microsoft Gaming, Electronic Arts, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, and with over 8,000 jobs lost during the months of January, February, and March.
Due out on February 23, 2023 in Japan.
March 3 in Europe, Oceania.
Due out on March 9.
The Switch version will follow later in 2023.
Open beta test begins August 11.
October 13 in Oceania.
Due out on October 5.
The Jackbox Party Pack 10, releasing on October 19.
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